Railway car roof



Oct. 29, 1946. v 5 WEST 2,410,191

RAILWAY CAR ROOF Filed'Sept. 27, 1944 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. Vwzorl. Wesi porting the roofwalk.

Patented Oct. 29, 1946 I --;.;i 1..

Victor E. West, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Standard RailwayEquip'ment Manufacturing Company, Chicago',' Ill'.,a corporation of Delaware f Application September 27, 1944, SerialNo. 555,938,

This invention relates to metal car roofs formed of a plurality-of metallic sheetsdisposed crosswise of the car, and supported by the side walls thereof, and which are arranged and joined along their adjacent margins by rigid upstanding seams which function as carlines for the roof, and.which have running board saddlessecured thereto at the ridge.

The principal object of the inventionis to strengthen andstiffen theseam construction of such roofs to better care for beamstresses imposed on said roof. V

Another object isto join the roof sheets in a manner to eliminatethe ordinaryseamcaps as now customarily used and thus reduce the weight of the roof and the cost thereof. r i

A further object is to provide a simple and ellicient arrangement .for securing the running boardsaddlesto the roof seams.

A still further object is to utilize welding material to hold the sheets together so that said welded material also increases the compressive value of the'seam as a beam and also Waterproofs-said seam. 1

Another, objectis to so shape the sidemargins of adjacentsheets .so that when in abutting relation atrough is formed for reception of the Welding material.

A still further object is the novel arrangement ofsecuring adjacent sheets which are under compression or tension and at the same time providingastiffening means for saidsheets. Y

Other objects and. advantages. of the invention will appear in the following description thereof. Referring .now to the accompanying drawings forming part'of this application and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts.

LSFigure 1 is a sideelevation of a portion of one of my improved roof seams and showing the roof walk applied thereto. Figure 2 is a section on line 22 of Figure' 1.

Figure 3-is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 1. T Figure4 is aside elevation of a saddle for supseain shown in Figures 5 and 6 showing its bend. over the vertical flange of the side plate.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 of a still further modified form of the invention.

In the modification shown in Figures 1 and 2 a side plate of the car is shown at I which is proi rivet weld, as indicated at I ll.

' vided with an upwardly extending arm or flange 2, the upper margin of whichis inwardly turned on a suitable radius, as at 3, to follow the pitch of the car roof and, of course, it is understood that there is such a side plate upon both sides of the car.

The roof sheets 4 extend transversely of the car from side plate to side plateand at their side margins are provided with upstanding flanges 5 which are spaced slightly (approximately from each other but at the upper margins these flanges are benttoward each other, as at 6, to abutting relationship and then turned upwardly against each other, as at 1, and the free margins thereof are welded together as by a continuous seam weld, indicated at 8. Approximately midway between the height of these seams, and at intervals of about one foot, the flanges 5 are pressed inwardly together forming circular bosses 9, and in one of said flanges, there is a circular portion cut-out of same for the application of a Due to the fact that the flanges are held together by a continuous weld at their upper edges, and at spaced intervals intermediate their width, I am enabled to provide, for all practical purposes, spaced flanges and thereby gain the advantage of a box-like beam to resist tortion stresses or Weaving in the car, or the tendency, under violent impact, of one side of the car to yield and slide while the other side remains intact and thereby tends to twist the roof sheets.

The saddles for supporting the running board or car walk, are indicated at H, being angularly bent pieces of plate material and having a horizontal portion 12 upon which the running board I 3 rests and is. secured. Spaced slots [4 are punched upwardly fromthe bottom edge of each saddle, the spacing of these slots corresponding to the spacing of the two seam flange bosses adjacent the ridge of the car. Over the ridge and for a distance equal to the length of the, saddles, the upper margins 1 of the seam flanges are spaced-sufliciently to allow the running board saddles to be placed therebetween with the slots HI resting upon the bosses 9 adjacent the ridge. The upper edges of the flanges 7, at the ridge,

are, therefore, welded, as at |5,'to the sides of the interposed saddles, and which structure forms a very simple, waterproof and strong support for 3 2|, until they meet and then the free margins are bent outwardly and upwardly, as at 22, forming a small V-shaped trough which is substantially filled with continuous welding material 23 to securely hold the sheets together and provide a water-tight seam. Adjacent the bases of these flanges they are pressed together intermittently, as at 24, for some considerable length, as more clearly shown in Figure 6. This is for the purpose of providing material along the bottom of said. pressed together portions for a Weld 25 of some length to aid in resisting any tension strain on the roof, as, for instance, should the car ends or sides tend to separate. The welding material '23 and flanges 22 also provide additional strength for the roof under compression. The ends of the roof sheet are bent over the side plates of the car, as shown in Figures 5 and 7, and, of course, in so doing the spacing of the flanges 29-46 must progressively decrease toward said side plate, as shown most clearly in Figure 7.

In Figure 8 I have shown an alternate method of accomplishing the same purpose as providing the embossments shown in Figure 1'. In Figure 8 the roof sheet flanges are indicated at Sit -30, and, as in Figure 5, are bent toward each other, as at3l, and then bent from each other, as at 32, forming a trough for receiving a continuous weld 33. To hold the flanges in spaced relation and'yet provide resistance to any tension stresses I provide spaced rivets -3 4 whi'ch extend through the spaced fianges 30%3'] and between which flanges and about whichrivet is installed a ferrule or sleeve 35 so that when the rivet is 'upset the ferrule will act asa spa cer'and yet the rivet will securely "hold the flanges together to resist the aforementioned stresses when the roof is under tension. Any other type of strut-tie for securely holding the flanges together in spaced relation may, of course, be used and it will be noted that it is preferred that such ties occur as closely as possible to the bases of said flanges 3i23ll.

While I have illustrated'and described the invention as applied to a railway car roof, it will be; understood that the same is applicable to other structural parts of a car,*such as t-he wall thereof, or to a'hoppersi'de; the invention being primarily concerned with the novel arrangement of securing together adjacent sheets, which are under compression or tension stresses, and at the same time providing a stiflening means for said sheets.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of'the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

, 1. A railway car roof comprising roof sheets having upstanding flanges attheir side margins, the major portions of said flanges of adjacent sheets being in spaced relation to resist stresses upon said roof while under compression, said flanges being secured together at their free margins by a continuous'weld, portions of said flanges projecting outwardly so th'ats'a-i'd portions of adjacent flanges engage each other, and means 'for 4 securing said portions of adjacent flanges together to resist stresses upon said roof While under tension.

2. A railway car roof comprising roof sheets having upstanding flanges at their side margins, the major portions of said flanges of adjacent sheets being held in spaced relation to resist stresses upon said roof While under compression, said flanges being secured together by a continuous weld at their free margins and said flanges having portions projecting outwardly, said portrons of'adjacent flanges being secured together to resist stresses upon said roof while under tension.

3. A railway car roof sheet having a body portion and an upstanding marginal flange, the free edge ofsaid flange being bent outwardly and then upwardly and inwardly to cooperate with an adjacent similarly formed roof sheet flange to form a trough for welding material, intermittent portions of said flange being pressed outwardly to engage similarly formed portions of said adjacent flange.

4. A railway car roof comp-rising roof sheets, each having a body portion and upstanding marginal flanges extending crosswise of said roof, the free edge of each flange being bent outwardly and then upwardly and inwardly to cooperate with the flange of an adjacent sheet to form a trough for welding material, continuous welding material within said trough securing said flanges together, intermittent portions of said flanges being pressed outwardly so that said portions of adjacent flanges eng-age each other, and means, substantially in the plane of the-body portions of the roof sheets, to secure adjacent roof sheets together, whereby adjacent flanges cooperate to form strut-ties across' said roof.

5. A connector for two metallic sheets comprising a marginal upstanding flange on each sheet, intermittentportions'of said flanges projecting 'outwardlyso that said portions of adjac'ent flanges engage each other to resist stresses upon said sheets while under compression, said flanges being. secured together at theirfree margins by a continuous weld and said flanges being secured together at intervals adjacent their bases to resist stresses upon said sheetsfwhile under tension.

6. A connector for two metallic sheets comprising a marginal upstanding flange on each sheet, portions or saidflanges projecting outwardly so that said 'zporti'ons of adjacent flanges engage each other and maintain the. remainder of saidflanges in spaced relation .to resist stresses upon said sheets while under compression, said portions being secured together and the free marginsof said flanges rbeing secured together by a continuous Weld. V

7. A railway car roof sheet having a body portion and a marginal flange 'extendingssubs'tantially normal thereto, a portion ofcsaid flange being bent outwardlyand adapted to engage and be secured to an adjacent .similarlyformed roof sheet flange, the body portionofsa'id flangebeing formed with integral outwardly projecting em"- bossmentssa'dapted to engage and be secured to similarly formed embossments of saidjadjacent n e. I r g r 

